The second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sustained a rare but catastrophic failure Thursday night, disintegrating in orbit during the deployment of the company’s latest batch of Starlink internet satellites.
In a posting on X two hours after launch, Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX, reported that the rocket had suffered a “RUD” — rapid unscheduled disassembly — while in orbit.
It remained uncertain whether SpaceX could salvage the 20 Starlink satellites jeopardized by the rocket malfunction.
This is the first failure of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2016, when one exploded on the launchpad during the loading of propellants for an engine firing test.
Between that explosion, which destroyed an Israeli satellite, and the malfunction on Thursday, SpaceX had enjoyed a streak of more than 300 successful Falcon 9 missions.
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